


I love everybody (because I love you)

by Dead_Fireflies375



Series: DE Artfest 2020 [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Anti-Android Sentiments (Detroit: Become Human), Canon-Typical Violence, DEArtfest, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Gavin is gen Z and Nines is concerned, Gay Disaster Gavin Reed, Just a little tho, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Blood, Nines is asexual, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, it's Reed900 so obviously there is a movie night scene, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25257760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dead_Fireflies375/pseuds/Dead_Fireflies375
Summary: Five times that Gavin wanted to kiss Nines and the one time where he actually did.DE Artfest Day 12- #5+1
Relationships: Tina Chen (Detroit: Become Human)/Valerie Morales-Chen, Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: DE Artfest 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814305
Comments: 7
Kudos: 154





	I love everybody (because I love you)

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, one day late is better than never.
> 
> I got this idea on Saturday, July 11th and I thought "oh this would be a quick fun thing to write I could definitely have it ready to publish by tomorrow it should only be a couple of thousand words." Next thing I knew, it was Sunday, July 12th in the evening and I was 5k words in and barely halfway done.
> 
> Moral of the story, I can apparently not write anything short under any circumstances. This is why I am not doing every prompt because otherwise, I would be dead.
> 
> Title is from Strawberry Blonde by Mitski
> 
> Hope you enjoy this! It was a bit rushed, but I enjoyed writing it so I hope y'all will like reading it.

**1.**

The first time Gavin wanted to kiss Nines was on one of the shittiest days he’s had in a long time. It had been just one thing after another. He had barely gotten a minute of sleep the night before, which wasn’t too abnormal for him, but it sure as shit wasn’t helping. The first thing he did after a night of failed attempts to sleep was to step in a hairball his cat had so lovingly left for him during the night, bringing things to a wonderful start. Then his coffee maker at home was broken so he couldn’t get his caffeine fix before work. He would have stopped at a coffee shop on the way to work, but he was already running late. Fowler had been on his ass lately, so he knew if he walked into the bullpen holding a cup of fresh coffee from the place down the street, he was going to get a lecture. And in all honesty, Fowler yelling at him for five minutes about his work performance seemed like the shittier option to go through right now.

So he walked into the DPD, already exhausted and in a bad mood. He shot a look over to the break room, hoping it would be empty so he could quickly sneak himself a cup of coffee without having to talk to anyone. Today was not his lucky day however and the break room was packed with people grabbing coffee and chatting. Yeah, Gavin knows himself pretty well. He knows just how much of an asshole he could be and he knew what made him more of an asshole. And looking at the break room where he would be subjected to small talk with coworkers he couldn’t stand while he had to wait ten minutes for shitty coffee looked a lot like another disciplinary. Coffee could wait. 

He practically slammed his things down on his desk and slumped down into his chair, rubbing at his temples. He was starting to get a fucking headache on top of all of this crap. Today was going to be shit. With a heavy sigh, he opened his computer, hoping for at least some good news about his case.

There was no good news. The case he had been on for weeks, a triple homicide, was so close to being solved that he could practically taste it. But stupid bureaucracy meant that he had to get a lot of paperwork processed before he could move in on the suspect, and it was taking way too long to get through the system. Despite the fact that every piece of evidence and instinct the detective had was pointing to this one guy, he could do nothing until he got all the necessary warrants processed. It sucked and was shitty that he had to let the murderer continue to waltz around while he was stuck doing paperwork, but he sure as shit didn’t want to bend the rules and end up getting torn apart by the guy’s defense attorney for illegal investigation in court later. The last thing he wanted was for the judge to throw out his evidence because it was fruit of the poisonous tree and the suspect ends up getting let off the hook because of it.

He groaned as he triple checked that no, he did not have the necessary paperwork processed to continue on with his investigation. Looks like he had another day of fun paperwork ahead of him. The headache was getting worse as he stared blankly at his bright computer screen, trying to will up to resolve to do some fucking work.

It was at this point when Gavin finally noticed that his government-issued Terminator was nowhere in sight. Nines practically lived at the station and it was rare that he couldn’t be found at his desk. He and the tin can had been paired up for three months now and they had a good … working relationship. Gavin had gotten over his anti-android agenda about a month into their partnership. His job wasn’t in jeopardy by androids as there were only two investigative models in operation and the continued production of androids had been suspended indefinitely until there was a consensus on the ethics of that. Without having the worry about being replaced by one, he found that a lot of his problems with androids had gone away. Hell, he’d even met some androids that acted more like humans than so humans he knew. No, his problem with Nines now had little to do with the fact that he was made of plastic and a lot more with the fact that he was still an insufferable pent up asshole that drove Gavin insane. But they had managed to get along enough at work to be an effective team together. They sure as shit weren’t friends, but they could work together which was about the best you could expect when it came to Gavin Reed.

He soon found out where the android had run off to when he heard the android push a cup of coffee across the joint part of their desk.

“The fuck is that?” Gavin asked, eyeing Nines with suspicion.

“I worry for your detective skills if you are unable to identify a standard cup of coffee,” Nines replied, focusing on his terminal.

The first and last time he had asked Nines for coffee had landed him face down on the ground with his arm twisted back and a foot pressing down on him as he was informed that while Nines may share a lot of features with his predecessor, Connor’s cheerful disposition was not one of them. Gavin couldn’t figure out why Nines would make him a cup now.

“I can see that, dipshit. What I want to know is why the fuck you’re giving me one? Shit ain’t poisoned, is it?”

“If I was going to kill you, detective, rest assured I would have done so weeks ago. As for your other question, you’ve managed to set a new record for your highest stress level at this hour without being directly provoked by someone. Caffeine has been a proven method to decrease your stress levels.”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to scan me, tin can?”

“And how many times do I have to tell you that it is an involuntary reaction that I don’t have conscious control over? It’s not my fault that a basic breakdown of your current physical state appears every time I look at you.”

“Yeah, well … don’t look at me then,” Gavin grumbled.

“If that was a viable option I would have been doing that months ago,” Nines said as he rolled his eyes, “And most of the time I disregard the information, but your stress levels this morning were too high to simply ignore. As someone who has worked with you when you are experiencing high stress, I decided that intervening before things got worse would provoke a better response from you than if I did nothing and let your stress levels increase.”

“Whatever,” Gavin huffed. Just cause he didn’t have a problem with androids on principle anymore didn’t mean he had to like all the features some of them had, especially Nines. Fucker could access every single documented piece of information about him in an afternoon and Gavin liked his privacy. Cautiously, he grabbed the coffee. He still wasn’t convinced that Nines didn’t put a bunch of salt in it or something but fuck it he needed some right now.

After one sip he was ready to propose to the tin can.

“Holy fucking shit, Nines, I think we’re wasting your talents here. DPD’s coffee is not supposed to be actually  _ good _ .”

“Creating the optimal drink is a lot easier when you have the most advanced analysis tools ever created and access to the complete database on ways to prepare coffee,” Nines shrugged, “I also analyzed my memories of your reactions to various coffees to determine what kind you would like best.”

Gavin went back to his coffee. It was good, really good. Gavin didn’t know how but Nines somehow whipped him up a stellar cup of coffee with the shitty resources in the break room.

He heard the sound of Nines pushing a box on the floor. He looked down to see that Nines had slid a donut box under Gavin’s desk.

“I also managed to retrieve a box of the donuts available in the break room as I suspect you haven’t eaten anything in over twelve hours. I ensured that it had a varied selection as I don’t have enough data to accurately predict what you would like best.”

“Shit, Nines, how the fuck did you manage to do that?”

There was a hint of a smile on his face as he said, “I’ve been discovering that there are other benefits to being a ‘goddamn fucking terminator,’” Nines explained, mimicking Gavin’s voice, “as you so eloquently put it.”

Gavin couldn’t help the smile that broke across his face. If he didn’t know any better, he could kiss Nines right now. Nines returned to his work and Gavin picked through the donut box, suddenly realizing how hungry he actually was. Perhaps, today wasn’t going to be so shitty after all. And who knows, maybe the toaster wasn’t as much of an insufferable pent-up asshole as he thought?

**2.**

The second time they were undercover. It had been a little over a month since the coffee incident and since then Gavin had been showing up to work with a cup of perfectly made coffee waiting for him at his desk. He was starting to miss work on the weekends because the coffee at home just couldn’t compare to Nines’ shit. The android had it down to a science and he really needed to ask how exactly Nines made it.

And shit, maybe he and Nines had been getting along better over the past month. He wouldn’t say that they were friends or anything, but Nines has been turning out to be a lot more tolerable to be around. And maybe sometimes he actually liked having him around.

The job was simple. There had been a bar that was heavily connected with a Red Ice drug ring that they had been trying to bust for weeks now. There were also suspected unwilling android participants, which is why the case got sent to Gavin and Nines. Due to Connor and Nines being the only active investigative androids, they, along with their human partners, were given priority for all cases. And when it came between Nines and Gavin or Connor and Hank, it was pretty obvious which duo would have an easier time blending into a bar attended primarily by humans in their early to mid-20s.

Gavin had seen his fair share of undercover cases, but this would be the first time he and Nines would do one together. Gavin wasn’t sure exactly what he expected. He figured being able to have someone who could scan the rooms and locate their perp in seconds would make things easier than normal. But there was also the added issue of Nines having to successfully act like he wasn’t a cop. Based on every interaction Gavin had ever had with the android, that would be the hardest part of the whole job. He wasn’t even sure if the guy had casual clothes. He had ditched his Cyberlife jacket early on, but he had replaced it with stuffy professional business clothes, even putting on a damn tie more days than not. Gavin hoped and prayed to whatever gods existed that Nines wouldn’t show up looking like some damn accountant and ruin the job before it even began.

They were going to meet up a few blocks away from the bar to keep suspicion off. Chris, Tina, and a few other officers were waiting nearby on the opposite side of the bar. Gavin had already been wired and now they were just waiting for Nines to show up. Being an android, he could wirelessly connect to the DPD’s system and had an automatic video camera in his head so wiring him would be redundant.

Gavin checked his phone to see if Nines had said anything about being late when he was startled by Nines’ voice coming from behind him.

“Jesus fucking Christ! Don’t do that,” Gavin complained.

“All I was saying was good evening, detective,” Nines calmly responded.

Gavin finally got a good look at him and … oh fuck. Nines was not dressed as an accountant. He wasn’t dressed like a cop. He was dressed like some goddamn Instagram model Gavin would have had a crush on when he was 19. Between the black leather jacket, the faded band t-shirt, ripped black jeans, and steel-toed combat boots, Gavin could hardly recognize the android in front of him. And shit, was he wearing eyeliner?

“The fuck are you wearing?” Gavin managed to get out, trying to maintain some dignity.

“Is this not suitable? I was informed that this would be appropriate for the occasion.”

“Yeah, it’s fucking … suitable. But it’s, uhm, it’s not really your style.”

Nines tilted his head. “Is that not the purpose of a disguise?”

“I mean, yeah! It’s just, I don’t know, kinda weird to see you dressed like that.”

“You are correct, this is not something I would wear under any other circumstances. The clothes all belong to Officer Chen and her wife.”

“Wait- what? Since when have you and Tina been swapping clothes and shit?”

“Officer Chen and I have been talking in the break room when I make your coffee,” Nines explained, “She is quite friendly and I enjoy her company. She overheard me discussing with Connor my concerns about having appropriate clothes for the mission so she offered help from her and her wife.”

“Wait, you’ve met Val?”

“Only once. She was the one who helped me get ready for this as I don’t have … personal experience in this realm. Did she do a bad job?”

“Fuck no! I mean, uhm, she did fine or whatever, let’s just get this shit over with.”

Gavin stormed off towards the bar but not without seeing Nines’ LED shift to yellow temporarily. Despite his head start, the android effortlessly caught up with him and matched his walking speed.

“You remember the plan, correct?” Nines asked.

“Yeah, yeah, we locate our guy, pretend that I’m interested in buying, you get the illegal stuff on camera, then we call in backup. Easy.”

“And you remember our cover identities?”

“Hey, I know the case. Calm down, tin can, this ain’t my first rodeo.”

“In that case, detective, I have a question for you: what is the nature of our relationship?”

Gavin sputtered to a halt, choking on air. “The fuck?”

“Our cover identities. I was running through preconstructions and I discovered that we did not agree on a set story as to why we would be attending the bar together. It would be quite beneficial if we could come to an agreement beforehand in case we are questioned.”

“Oh that … uhm, shit I don’t know just say you’re with me or some shit. Play it by ear. We don’t have to plan every single detail.”

There was a brief flick of red on Nines’ LED.

“My simulations showed that for the highest probability of our success, we have to have as many details agreed upon by the two of us beforehand.”

“Yeah, well did your simulations take into account my shitty impulse control?”

“Obviously.”

“Did it also take into account everyone else at the bar’s shitty impulse control?”

A brief flash of red suggested that no, he did not.

“That’s the thing about us humans, we do dumb shit on impulse all the time and even with all your fancy software, you can’t predict what’s going to happen in there. When shits starts to go awry, I don’t have an expensive supercomputer in my head that will sort out Alex Ramirez’s fake cover story and the shit I actually need to know for the job. Better to have a general idea and improv it as I go.”

“You humans and your spontaneity,” Nines muttered as they continued on walking but there was a teasing tone to his voice as he flashed Gavid a half-smile.

“Yeah, well this meatsack is pretty grateful for that because it’s my job security. Can’t replace me with one of y’all till you guys learn how to be spontaneous and act on instinct.”

“I could be spontaneous if I wanted to be,” he insisted.

“Really? You could do something right now that you have put zero thoughts or analysis or whatever behind it?”

Nines frowned a bit. “Zero?”

Gavin laughed a bit. “Yup. Zero planning into it before. Just gotta do something in the moment no matter how dumb it is.”

There were a few more flicks of red as they approached the doors to the club.

“Hey, leave all the dumb impulse decisions to me. And I don’t know, stop contemplating shit that makes your light go red. Makes you look like a bomb that’s about to explode,” Gavin said as they entered.

Gavin was not staring. He was definitely not staring at his partner instead of scanning the bar for the perp. He was really not thinking about how the purple LED lights of the bar really complimented Nines’ look that he had going right now.

“Are you paying attention?” the android asked, snapping him to attention.

“‘Course I am.”

“Good. I located our man. He’s sitting on the couch in the back left corner of the lounge area. There are three others with him, all of which have connections to the drug ring. It would be beneficial for us to begin to move in soon.”

“Got it, tin can. We’ve got this.”

They did not, as Gavin put it, “got this.” Everything had been going swimmingly at first. Gavin knew enough about the whole scene to not sound like a narc and Nines was good at playing the role of “unsuspecting robot friend who is just here for the ride and is vulnerable.” Must have played the role too well though, because instead of just having a normal drug deal, Nines and Gavin found themselves getting led to the Android Trafficking side of things. The gang had been using androids as their source of thirum for their red ice and thought Nines would be an easy target. Nines and Gavin had the upper hand for a moment as the gang members had definitely been thrown off when they found out that Nines was not some model designed for gardening but was in fact a military-grade android that was originally designed to be a killing machine. But they quickly lost that advantage as they were outnumbered and outgunned and definitely did not have enough backup nearby to completely even out the situation.

When the leader began to make a run for it, Nines and Gavin had the unanimous decision to go after him and leave to lower-ranking members for their coworkers who would be showing up any minute. The chase had been going good for a bit, till they reached one of the storage rooms. Neither of them had noticed that the door their perp ran through had been rigged. Now androids were fairly indestructible when compared to humans, but they had certain weaknesses that humans didn’t. When you’re made of wires and electricity, getting disruptive EMF waves being shot at you can really throw you off. It was a way that some very anti-android organizations pre-revolution had ensured that androids couldn’t enter certain areas. Now it was highly illegal, but that didn’t seem to stop the Android-Trafficking drug ring from installing it on their back storerooms where they were keeping their discarded androids.

Luckily for them, Nines was the most advanced android ever created. The disruptive frequencies weren’t enough to completely stop him or deactivate him, but they were enough to slow him down a bit and disorient him. That gave enough time for the leader to gain some serious ground on them. The room was full of shelves lined with various parts, biocomponents, and thirum. There was a backdoor on the opposite side of the room leading out to the alley that the perp was heading towards. Gavin knew that if the perp made it, they would lose him. He tried to catch up to him, pushing past Nines even though concern bubbled in his throat. They had discussed EMF stuff before and Nines had made it clear that it was not enough to cause any serious damage to him, but Gavin still didn't feel okay about pushing past him. Gavin actually made some good ground through the storage room until the perp realized how close on his heels Gavin was. Before Gavin had time to react, the leader was knocking over the nearby very heavy shelves that landed on Gavin, pinning him down on the ground. Fuck, the perp was getting away.

“Nines!” Gavin yelled, seeing that the android had finally shaken off the effects of the EMF, but there was no possible way that Nines would be able to cover the distance to the exit in time to stop the perp.

Suddenly there was an object shooting through the air and hit the perp square in the back, knocking him to the ground instantly.

“Holy shit, Nines! That was badass,” Gavin cheered and then he looked at Nines and realized what exactly he had thrown. “Wait- was that your arm?”

Nines was still looking a bit confused, his LED flashing bright red, as he stared at the one remaining arm he had left.

“I think so?”

“You think so?”

“I- I believe I may have just acted impulsively, detective.”

Gavin couldn’t stop his laughter. “Ya think? Oh my god, you actually threw your arm at someone. This is too fucking good. If there was any doubt on your deviancy before, then there sure as shit isn't now.”

Nines smiled a bit and approached Gavin, his LED still switching between red and yellow. “Due to the physics of this shelving unit and my current limited capacities, I can’t get this off you completely, but I can adjust it so there will be less pressure on your legs.”

“Do what you gotta do, tin can. You already single-handedly took down our guy.”

Nines paused before suddenly laughing. Gavin was a bit taken aback. Sure, he’d heard Nines laugh before, but those were small chuckles as Nines continued to keep up his super dignified act. Not this. Gavin didn’t want to admit how much he liked it.

“I didn’t realize it would take a shelf to fall on for you to become actually funny,” Nines said once his laughter died down a bit.

“Wait, you’re telling me the most advanced thing Cyberlife ever produced lost his shit over a goddamn pun?”

“It was a humorous joke. Do you need me to explain it to you?” Nines asked as he crouched down by Gavin and shifted the shelving unit with his arm.

“I get the joke, tin can. Didn’t know that stuff was up your alley.”

Nines lightly shrugged. “I didn’t know you could actually be funny.”

“Hey, you’ve laughed at shit I said before.”

“Laughing with you or laughing at you, detective? Which one do you think it was?” Nines replied with a teasing grin.

Gavin blamed it on the adrenaline still rushing through his veins or maybe even a bit on the outfit Valerie had done him up in, but Gavin suddenly felt the strongest urge to grab Nines’ face and kiss him. Obviously as soon as the thought occurred to him, he buried it as deep within himself as he could. No way was he even going to entertain the possibility of catching feelings for his partner. But that didn’t stop the color from rising to his cheeks as he watched the android continue to laugh softly over the joke, his hair disheveled from the chase, LED now pulsing blue.

“You know that we’re in a room with like 50 other robot arms, right? You didn’t have to throw your own,” Gavin pointed out.

“Oh, I … I didn’t think about that at the time,” Nines admitted with a sheepish grin on his face.

Gavin rolled his eyes. Okay, yeah, maybe he was kinda friends with the tin can.

**3.**

The third time was at Chris's promotion party. Gavin didn’t usually go out with his coworkers but Chris was an obvious exception to that. Tina and Valerie were there too and Nines had also been invited. It had been another two months since the undercover mission and yeah, he and Nines were friends now. But Gavin was pretty proud of the fact that he had managed to successfully suppress any of those other feelings he was having towards Nines that night. Like yeah, of course, Nines was attractive. He was a goddamn android for fucks sake! The guy had a team of engineers to design his face. Just because Gavin had eyes did not mean that he was catching feelings for his partner.

The bar they went to was one of the few very android friendly bars in the area. After the revolution, places were no longer allowed to forbid androids from entering, but that didn’t mean everywhere was exactly accommodating to them. The bar they were at was one of the few that actually offered android friendly drinks. While androids couldn’t get drunk in the same way humans do, it had been discovered that if an android consumed too much thirum, it would have similar effects on their processing abilities to that of alcohol. So while Chris, Tina, and Valerie were going through shots of vodka, Nines was going through glasses of thirum, cheeks already flushed a light blue. Gavin was sticking to water. Designated drivers weren’t really necessary anymore now that most people had self-driving cars, but Gavin had never got the taste for alcohol. Besides he already had a nicotine addiction, he didn’t need something else that could kill him. It was also kind of fun watching his friends make fools of themselves.

“You know, I really love you guys,” Chris declared, slurring slightly. The night was still young but they were all already tipsy.

“Nothing but the best for my new favorite, detective,” Tina declared, raising up her shot for a toast, “No offense Gavin and Nines.”

“What about that Lieutenant Anderson of yours?” Valerie asked giggling.

“Fuck off,” Tina groaned, “That’s like Nines’ dad you’re talking about. Nobody wants to hear that.”

“He’s not my dad,” Nines protested.

“Yeah, and Connor isn’t your brother,” Tina retorted.

“If anything, applying human family dynamics to me and Connor, with me being his successor, it would make more sense for him to be my father.”

Nobody liked that.

“Nines, that is somehow even worse than everything I’ve heard Valerie say combined,” Chris groaned before taking another shot.

“Yeah, I actually hate the idea of Connor being your dad,” Tina added.

“Can’t say I’m a fan either,” Gavin admitted, scrunching his nose.

“Well, that’s 'cause you’re not a fan of anything having to do with Connor,” Nines pointed out.

“Hey, listen. If the dude would stop being so goddamn annoying, I wouldn’t have a problem with him,” Gavin shrugged.

“Aren’t you and Connor the same model?” Valerie asked Nines.

“Fuck no,” Gavin cut in on instinct.

Nines rolled his eyes at Gavin. “I’m an upgraded version of him so we’ve got a lot of similarities, but deviancy has had different effects on us.”

“Thank god for that,” Gavin muttered, “I swear if you show up to work wearing one of Connor’s ugly shirts, I’m applying for a partner transfer right then and there.”

Tina rolled her eyes. “Come on, Gav. We all know that Nines is the only one in the entire DPD who can put up with your ass.”

“Hey, I’ve been partnered with Chris before!”

“That doesn’t count. He’s Chris Miller, he gets along with everyone,” Tina pointed out.

“Can’t deny that,” Chris shrugged.

“You don’t have anything to worry about, detective. As funny as it would be to see your reaction, I have the same level of distaste for those shirts. I’m just civil about it.”

Gavin snorted. “Hank told me about the argument y’all had over clothes last week. Saying that he’s quote-unquote ‘killing fashion one t-shirt at a time’ is real civil of you.”

“Compared to what you would have said, yes that was pretty civil of me.”

“He got you there,” Tina replied.

“Besides,” Nines continued, “considering the shirt, I’d say if anything I was being nice to him about it.”

“That bad?” Valerie asked.

Nines nodded solemnly.

“Let me see,” Tina asked.

Her phone pinged and she picked up the photo Nines had sent her.

“Nines, I hate to break it to you, buddy, but I know at least four different lesbians who own that shirt.”

“Hand it over,” Valerie asked and looked at the photo, “Yup, the twink one of my brunch mates was having a fling with also had that shirt. I may have also owned something similar at one point.”

“Don’t get me wrong, the shirt itself is hideous,” Tina added, “It looks like a bowling alley from the 90s. But I mean that’s the shit half of my gay friends have worn my entire adult life.”

“I think your brother is trying to come out to you, Nines,” Valerie told him.

“We are not going to start back up with the Nines and Connor being related shit,” Gavin informed the table.

“Wait, I don’t get it? Why do you think Connor is gay?” Chris asked.

“Found the hetero!” Tina loudly exclaimed. “Hate to break it to you, bud, but you have the single worst gaydar I have ever seen.”

“Pfft, I do not,” Chris replied, “Besides, it’s not like I’m the only straight person here. Gavin is straight!”

That was met by a cocked eyebrow from Gavin and Tina and Valerie losing their minds. Even Nines was laughing a little.

“Hate to break it to you, Chris, but I haven’t thought I was straight since sixth grade.”

“Oh my god, Chris,” Tina gasped out in between laughs, “I cannot believe you’ve thought Gavin was straight this entire time.”

“You were there the night Gavin got drunk and ranted about the sexuality crisis watching  _ Rocky Horror Picture Show _ gave him,” Valerie reminded him as she clutched onto her wife.

“It’s Tim Curry in drag! That’s the normal response to have regardless of your sexual orientation,” Chris defended.

“Ay, I can’t refute that,” Valerie conceded.

“What about literally every other thing about Gavin motherfucking Reed? Within ten minutes of our initial meeting, I knew that there was no way he was a het.”

Chris shrugged. “Don’t know, didn’t occur to me.”

“Chris, be honest with me right now,” Tina said as she leaned across the table, “if I hadn’t invited you to my wedding where I married a woman, would you know that I am a massive lesbian?”

“I’m just going to take a fair guess and say no,” Chris admitted with defeat.

Tina fell back in laughter. “Chris, I love you, sweetie, but you can be so dumb sometimes.”

“There goes my faith in the DPD,” Valerie said chuckling as she downed another shot. “Good thing y’all cops aren’t sent to identify gay people, because you would fail spectacularly at it.”

“Did you know too?” Chris asked Nines who was smiling.

“Detective Miller, I have the most advanced investigative software ever designed.”

“Is that a yes?”

“That is a yes.”

Chris groaned and put his head in his hands. “I am going to be such a bad detective.”

“Hey, my parents lived with me for years and I still had to spell it out for them,” Gavin said, giving Chris a comforting pat on the back, “We still all support you, even if you’re straight.”

“You know what I think this calls for?” Valerie asked, “Another round of shots!”

It didn’t take long from there for the rest of them to get drunk. Gavin enjoyed observing their shenanigans from the table, which mainly included Chris and Valerie revisiting their background as theater kids together while Tina and Nines reviewed their performance, with an interesting commentary. Eventually, a song Tina and Valerie liked came on over the bar’s speakers and they started dancing. It was an absolute disaster that reminded Gavin of their wedding. Nines walked up to him and grabbed his arm, cheeks flushed blue.

“Come on, let’s dance,” Nines asked as he used his android strength to pull Gavin along.

“Fuck, Nines, I don’t really dance,” Gavin started to complain as he attempted to ignore his heart hammering in his chest.

Nines suddenly spun around so he was facing Gavin and Gavin was hyper-aware of how close they were now. Nines grabbed his other hand.

“I’ve never danced before in my life and I am currently as inebriated as an android of my model can get. Please?”

“Ugh, fine. I’m not promising anything good though.”

Nines’ face broke out into a smile and Gavin thought he was going to have a heart attack. This could go very badly very quickly.

It turned out that Nines’ slowed down processing speeds, meant that for the first time ever in his life, he was something akin to clumsy. Now Gavin had never been one to label himself as clumsy, but he was out here dancing with a drunk six-foot android who was very attractive, so forgive him if he stumbled a bit. Gavin was often just simply caught off guard by how happy Nines looked in the moment. Nines was far from emotionless, but he usually didn’t express many, or least not to this extreme. The way Nines smiled as he spun Gavin around made his heart flutter in a way that was very embarrassing for a 37-year-old police detective. Gavin had to resist the urge to grab Nines's face as they spun around and kiss him. Okay, fine. Maybe he did have a bit of a crush on Nines.

**4.**

The fourth time was during the first time Nines had stayed over at Gavin’s apartment without the excuse of work. Obviously Nines had been over before so that he and Gavin could get more work done, but this was the first time Gavin asked him to hang out just as friends.

And yeah, sure, Gavin had a crush on Nines, but he was doing his best to not fuel the fire. They were friends, nothing more and Gavin wasn’t going to spend time thinking about something he couldn’t have. It was just a little crush and it would definitely go away. In hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have invited Nines over on a weekend just to watch movies together if repressing his crush was his main objective. But what could he do? The android had somehow made it through almost a year of living in this world and had never been shown  _ Repo! The Genetic Opera _ . Gavin couldn’t in good conscience not try to remedy that.

When Nines had appeared at his door wearing a t-shirt and jeans, Gavin very nearly had a heart attack. Nines still managed to catch him off guard when he didn’t wear those fancy business clothes he was always sporting. Luckily, Gavin had played it cool and hopefully did not give away the fact that he was extremely attracted to his friend. His cat, Asshole, had promptly attached herself to the android as soon as he had stepped inside. Nines smiled and scooped her up in his arms, heading over to the couch while Gavin mumbled about her being a damn traitor. 

“You haven’t looked up the entire plot yet, have you?” Gavin asked, sitting down on the couch next to Nines.

“No, but a preliminary search of the film’s title brought up a lot of mixed reviews on the quality of the film.”

“Pfft, that's just cause people don’t have taste. Only people with a superior taste, like me, like this movie,” Gavin responded as he pulled up the film.

“Are you sure everyone else doesn’t have good taste and you have bad taste?” Nines asked, the teasing tone evident in his voice.

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Shut up and watch the damn movie.”

The opening notes of “Genetic Repo Man” began and Gavin relaxed back into the sofa a bit, doing his best to not be aware of Nines’ close proximity. Nines didn’t make any comments during the film, knowing that it pissed Gavin off. Out of the corner of Gavin’s eye, he saw that Nines’ LED switched between yellow and blue throughout the film. That was good. Usually, if he didn’t like a movie, it wouldn’t switch to blue. Whatever he felt for the tin can, he doubted that he could continue being friends with him if he didn’t like this movie. Okay, that was a bit dramatic, but Gavin really wanted Nines to like it.

When the credits began rolling, Gavin turned to Nines expectantly, trying to gauge his reaction.

“Well? Realize what you’ve been missing?”

“It makes sense that you’re a fan of this film.”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Between the gratuitous violence, rock opera soundtrack, and cyberpunk dystopian setting, it all aligns with other things I’ve noticed you enjoying in films.”

“Yeah, whatever, you’ve got me all analyzed or whatever. But that doesn’t tell me what you think of it.”

Nines paused, LED circling yellow.

“The film’s low budget was evident at many points in the film, the acting was often over the top or unrealistic, and the plot was often ridiculous, but …”

“But?”

“I found myself enjoying watching it.”

Gavin’s face split into a smile.

“Thank god. I was really starting to worry about the future of our partnership.”

Nines rolled his eyes, smiling softly as he continued to pet the cat in his lap.

“So, uh …” Gavin started, “You want to watch something else?”

Gavin really wanted Nines to stay over longer.

“Under the conditions that I am allowed to select the next film.”

“Why? You got something you want to see?”

“Not in particular. But based on what I know about you, there is a good probability that you would pick a bad film. Seeing as you’ve already selected a film that I enjoyed watching tonight, the chances that you will pick something bad next have increased greatly.”

“Asshole,” Gavin muttered, to which his cat poked her head up. “Not you,” Gavin told her as he patted her head, “I’m talking to the six-foot plastic asshole who always finds a way to turn a compliment into a dig at me.”

“We both know how much you struggle with being complimented, Gavin,” Nines said with a faint smile. He only called him Gavin when they weren’t at the station or on a job. “If I said genuinely nice things to you all the time, you would be even more insufferable.”

“See what I mean?” Gavin complained as Asshole headbutted his hand, asking for more pets, “Total asshole to me.”

Nines only smiled, LED whirring yellow as he decided on a movie.

“I’ve found something,” Nines informed him as his LED switched to blue.

“What is it? Better be something good.”

“That’s rich coming from you. And it’s  _ All That Jazz _ . It’s a musical from the year 1979.”

“A musical?”

Nines tilted his head in amusement. “Are you really going to criticize me for selecting a musical after we just watched one together?”

“But I mean, Repo! is a classic.”

“From what my search results gathered, this one is too.”

“Yeah, but like, is it a fun campy horror musical about why privatized health insurance sucks?”

“No, it is actually about a Broadway director. Since I’ve had little personal experience in that area, I thought it would be interesting to watch. Besides, the majority of movies I’ve seen have been released post-2000. I think it would be interesting to observe something from the twentieth century.”

“Fine,” Gavin sighed. “Probably won’t be the worst thing I’ve watched.”

It was not, in all fairness, the worst thing Gavin had ever watched. Broadway sleazeball's life slowly falling apart as he dies from totally preventable causes isn’t something Gavin would watch by choice, but it wasn’t a bad movie and there were certain parts that Gavin kinda liked. Though his favorite was definitely Nines’ reaction to the “Take Off With Us” part.

“I didn’t notice this part mentioned in my preliminary search,” Nines admitted, LED red with his cheeks dusted blue.

Gavin laughed. “Hey, you’re the one who wanted to watch something different from what you normally see.”

“This isn’t exactly what I meant by that,” Nines replied as the dancers on the television continued to perform the very suggestive choreography.

“Hate to break it to you, bud, but that stuff is kinda par for the course for a lot of humans.”

Nines furrowed his brow a bit. “Yes, I am aware of that. That doesn’t mean that it’s something that I like.”

Gavin shrugged. “Fair enough.”

The scene ended and the film continued on. The elaborate closing number of the movie began with the lines “Bye bye life, Bye bye happiness, Hello loneliness, I think I’m going to die.”

Gavin couldn’t help but chuckle at the lyrics and muttered, “mood.”

Nines turned to him. “What was that?”

“Huh? Oh, I just said ‘mood.’ You know, with the whole ‘I think I’m going to die’ thing? It’s a mood.”

Nines’ LED flashed red. “Why do you say that?”

“Dunno,” Gavin shrugged, “It was a thing when I was a kid, guess I never kicked the habit. Like you would just be ‘I want to die’ and everyone would just say ‘mood’ or ‘same.’”

“That doesn’t sound like the correct response.”

“I mean, it’s a joke. Doesn’t have to make sense.”

“Was it a joke?”

“Course it was. I mean, there’s no logical reason why I’ve made it this far, so it’s like, I don’t know, ironic?”

Nines still looked concerned.

“What’s wrong, tin can? Looks like you’re about to blow a fuse.”

“I don’t like the concept of you dying,” Nines simply answered.

Gavin felt his heart skip a few beats. Yeah, he knew Nines cared about him but he had been right when he said that Gavin didn’t handle positive feedback very well.

“Hey, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. If I somehow managed to make it thirty-six years on my own, I’m sure I’ll be fine now that I’ve got a full-on terminator looking out for me.”

Nines nodded, but his LED was still bright red. Gavin sighed. He didn’t want to be the cause of Nines being upset. His first instinct was to grab Nines and kiss the sad look off his face. As soon as the thought occurred to him, Gavin pushed it back down to exactly where it had come from. He was not dealing with that tonight. Instead, he put his arm around Nines and practically shoved him into his side. Nines relaxed into the touch and wrapped his arms around Gavin’s torso, burying his face into Gavin’s chest. Gavin did his best to not freak out over it. Friends hug each other, right?

“Promise me that you won’t leave me?” Nines asked, voice muffled by Gavin’s shirt.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, tin can, I promise,” Gavin replied as he ruffled Nines’ hair.

Okay, maybe it was more than just a little crush.

**5.**

The fifth time happened when a standard call turned bad. Gavin and Nines had been called to the scene of an android homicide. They pulled up to the house. A two-story house out in a more residential area, one of the neighbors had reported hearing the sound of gunshots from inside the house. When the first officers who arrived discovered that the victim was an android, Gavin and Nines had been called up to investigate. They walked into the house, the forensics team stepping away from the body. Nines crouched down and looked at the android lying in the living room.

“The victim was an MP500. Her name was registered as Leah. She was shot three times in her thirum regulator and once in her head. She is listed as a resident here along with her human partner. Based on the fingerprints on her body, he looks like he may be a suspect. I will send over the data to the DPD so they can begin trying to contact him for questioning. The traces of thirum would date the death to occurring about three hours ago,” Nines explained as he got up, “we should search the house to see if there is any more evidence.”

“Got it, robocop,” Gavin said as he began looking around.

Sure, Nines definitely had him beat when it came to his skills in investigating a crime scene. Gavin didn’t have half the specs Nines did. But they’ve had more than one case where Gavin picked up an important detail that Nines had initially overlooked. Most of the other responders had left now since anything that they hadn’t covered yet, Nines could easily finish for them. Gavin moved upstairs while Nines continued the scan the ground floor. There probably wouldn’t be much up there to find details about the murder, but there could be some stuff for a motive.

Gavin began looking around in the bedrooms. Just like he thought, there wasn’t a lot in terms of details of the murder, but there were several pieces that suggested possible motives. Looks like Leah’s human partner was in some serious debt and Leah was struggling to find a job with there still being a lot of anti-android sentiments going around. Gavin made sure to note that down so he could look more into it later.

He heard Nines begin to walk up the stairs after him.

“Find anything?” his partner called.

“Found some stuff about a possible motive,” he called back.

Nines appeared in the doorframe of the room he was searching.

“I’ll take a look down the hallway,” Nines informed him and walked off.

Gavin went to open the doors to one of the closets in the hallway but was met with a searing pain in his chest. A figure from the closest rushed out, pushing him to the side. Fuck, they hadn’t considered that the killer was still in the house. Gavin was dimly aware of the sound of the killer rushing out of the house and hearing Nines rush over to him. Gavin stumbled back a little, trying to maintain his balance. The front of his shirt was already drenched in blood. He felt himself begin to lose balance, but Nines was right there to catch him and carefully lay him down.

“Shh, Gavin, it’s okay. You’re going to be okay,” Nines told him, but it seemed more like he was trying to convince himself. Nines had one hand over the gunshot wound and the other cradling Gavin’s head.

“He got away,” Gavin observed.

“We’ll get him later. Right now we’re going to get you help and everything will be fine okay?” Nines explained, but panic was lacing his voice.

“Fuck it hurts,” Gavin muttered.

“I know it does, but you’re going to be alright. Everything is going to be fine. You’re not dying on me.”

Gavin was no android, but he knew if he was one, he’d be able to tell that Nines’ stress levels were starting to max out. And he had a pretty good idea that it was being caused by the probably decreasing chance of survival Nines was seeing over him right now.

Gavin moved his hand to cup Nines’ face, accidentally smearing his blood on it. “Sorry, tin can,” he murmured. It was taking a lot more effort to keep his eyes open and keep talking.

“Look at me, Gavin, you’re going to be okay. You’re going to live, okay?” Nines insisted but the look on his face wasn’t convincing Gavin, “Fuck, Gavin, you promised me you weren’t going to leave me. I need you to stay with me. Fuck.” 

It was getting harder to focus on Nines right in front of him but it looked like there was thirum running down his cheeks. Gavin attempted to wipe it away with the hand that was still resting on Nines’ cheek.

“It’s okay, Nines,” Gavin managed out, trying to comfort the android.

“No, it’s not!” Nines finally admitted, voice cracking, “You promised me, okay? You said that you weren’t going to leave me anytime soon. So I need you to stick with me. I need you, Gavin, don’t leave me,” Nines begged.

Gavin wanted to pull Nines down in a kiss. Get at least one in before it was curtains for him. Let Nines know how much he meant to him and how much he had come to love him. But he didn’t have the strength to do either before his eyes shut.

**+1.**

Gavin woke up in a hospital room. The dull pain in his chest immediately reminded him of what had happened, He shifted in his bed to see Nines sitting in the chair next to him, staring off in the distance while doing one of Conner’s coin tricks. Nines only did those when he was especially antsy, which wasn’t often.

“Hey,” Gavin managed to weakly get out.

That immediately snapped Nines back to attention as he rushed over to Gavin’s side, his LED switching between yellow and red.

“Gavin! Are you okay?” Nines asked, concern evident in his voice.

“Eh, I’ve been better,” Gavin shrugged, “I’ve also been a lot worse.”

Nines furrowed his brow. “That is not as comforting to hear as you may think. The bullet was only three centimeters from hitting a major artery. You could have died!”

“I didn’t though, did I?”

“Sometimes I wonder if making my stress levels max out is your actual job,” Nines sighed.

“Hey, that’s why Fowler pays me the big bucks. Knows I’m the only one capable of making the world’s most advanced android blow a fuse. This is all a very elaborate conspiracy to try to eliminate you, one way or another,” Gavin joked.

Nines smiled faintly at that, but he still looked worried.

“You okay, tin can?”

“Why are you asking me? You’re the one who got shot in the chest.”

“I’ve been shot before.”

“But I wasn’t there,” Nines explained, flicking red.

Gavin’s heart jumped in his throat. Fuck, he was in love. He reached out for Nines’ hand and grabbed it.

“I promised you that I wasn’t going anywhere. And I didn’t. Everything will be okay.”

Nines ran his thumb across Gavin’s hand. “I should be the one comforting you.”

“Hey, I’ve been through this before. You haven’t. You’ve got every right to be upset right now.”

Nines paused, staring intently at their hands. “I was so scared that I was going to lose you,” Nines whispered.

“I know. Me too,” Gavin replied and squeezed Nines' hand.

An easy silence fell between them as Nines gripped Gavin’s as if he was having to confirm that Gavin was indeed alive and lying right in front of him. Gavin wanted to tell Nines everything, tell him how he feels, but just as he was about to hype himself up to do it, the door to his hospital room burst open with Tina and Chris rushing in.

“Gavin! Oh my god, you’re awake!” Tina cried out as she rushed over to his side.

“Nines messaged us that you woke up,” Chris explained as he followed after Tina.

“Gonna take a lot more than a bullet to the chest to take me out,” Gavin stated. He felt the grip on his hand tighten as he said that.

“I’m going to have to discuss with Cyberlife upgraded my system’s max stress levels,” Nines said, finally looking like he had calmed down some since earlier, no longer having any red in his LED.

“That’s our Gav for ya,” Tina declared, playfully hitting Gavin’s shoulder, “Think I’ve lost about twenty years off my lifespan being around this guy.”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know you missed me.”

“Connor and Hank have been put on the case instead,” Chris explained, “From what I’ve heard, you’re going to be on medical leave for a while and then desk duty till Fowler thinks you’re better.”

“Ugh, this is why I hate getting shot.”

“You sure it’s not the part where you almost die?” Tina asked, teasing.

“Yeah, no, I’m pretty sure it’s the desk duty part.”

Chris and Nines started talking about something regarding work when Tina finally noticed Gavin and Nines’ hands. She raised her eyebrow in curiosity, about to ask something. Tina knew better than anyone else about Gavin’s feelings for Nines, hell she probably knew even before him. Gavin shook his head. The last thing he wanted was for Tina to say something about it right now.

The next week he spent in the hospital. It sucked, but Nines spent most of his time there. Fowler let him because Nines was able to do all the paperwork he was supposed to be doing just about anywhere. Gavin was eternally grateful because he would have gone insane without the android’s company. Tina and Chris stopped by often and brought their wives along too. Chris even brought his son Damien once which was fun. Gavin wasn’t the biggest fan of children, but he could handle them in small amounts and shit, he had to admit that Damien was pretty adorable. Hank and Connor would occasionally stop by to check in on him and give updates on how the case was going. Even Fowler stopped by once, mainly to lecture Gavin about his recklessness and also to drop off the cookies his wife had made for him.

Gavin never found another moment where he could tell Nines how much he felt for him. The more time passed, the more he psyched himself out of doing it. He had good reason to believe that it was possible that Nines felt similarly towards him. Hell, he was a detective! Picking up the clues someone is dropping is his job. But still, the longer he waited, the more uncertain he became. There was a deep pit of anxiety in his chest every time he got close to saying those words out loud and Gavin knew the more he waited, the worse it would be. He should just metaphorically rip the bandaid off, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Eventually, he was allowed to go back home. He still wasn’t allowed to officially go back to work, but he was going to drop by the station to at least pick up some paperwork to do at his apartment. He didn’t like not doing at least some work. Nines had picked him up from the hospital and was driving him to the station. He had insisted that he could do it on his own, but Nines isn’t the kind of person to take no for an answer when Gavin is injured. They walked into the station which was suspiciously dark and quiet and then … 

“Surprise!”

“Jesus fucking Christ! What the hell is this?” Gavin exclaimed as he jumped back in surprise.

It looked like everyone from the station was there. There were a few balloons tied around the room and there was a banner that read “Congratulations! It’s a boy!” but directly under there was a piece of printer paper that had “not dead” written on it and an arrow pointing in between “a” and “boy.” There was a cake waiting for him on his desk that had “Day 5236 of Gavin Reed not dying while employed by the DPD” written on it in icing.

“You have anything to do with this?” Gavin asked Nines, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Maybe,” Nines said with a sly grin.

“Come on, Gav! I want cake,” Tina enthusiastically cheered.

The night went by in a blur. Gavin had never made much of an effort to get to know most of the station and they hadn’t tried to know him either. But he guessed that he was less of an asshole than he used to be, and he found it surprisingly easier to talk to a lot of them than he thought it would be. The welcome back party had been going on for about an hour or two when he realized that he lost track of Nines. He quietly slipped out of the party and went looking for him. Eventually, he found himself up on the roof where he usually went to take smoke breaks. Nines was leaning on the balcony, overlooking the city.

“This is a first,” Gavin remarked as he walked up to the android, “Usually you’re the one finding me up here avoiding people.”

“Why aren’t you at your party?”

“I was looking for you. What are you doing up here?”

Nines shrugged. “It’s easier to process thoughts with less external distractions.”

There was an easy silence between the two of them for a minute.

“You should head back to your party,” Nines suggested, “The others are probably looking for you.”

“Are you going to come back if I do?”

“I- I still have some stuff I’m trying to process.”

“So I guess I’ll hang up here a bit longer.”

“Why? They’re all down there- Tina, Chris, Hank-”

“But they’re not you,” Gavin cut him off. He took a deep breath. It was now or never. “I want to spend more time with you.”

“You’ve seen me the majority of the time since you’ve been in the hospital.”

“And? I want to see more of you.”

Nines frowned, LED circling yellow.

“Gosh, do I have to spell it out for you?” Gavin huffed, “You’re a super-smart detective android. I am positive you already know about what I feel for you.”

Nines’ LED circled red as he pinched his brow. “We’re not having this conversation right now.”

“Why not? You looking for a better place to reject me?”

“No! You just …” Nines trailed off and put his head in his hands, “You just need to think more about this before you do something you’ll regret.”

“Nines, I’ve been non stop thinking about this for months now! I think I’ve thought about what I want long enough!”

“Clearly you haven’t if we’re even needing to have this conversation!” Nines snapped back.

There was clearly something that Nines was going through that he wasn’t telling Gavin about, because that behavior wasn’t typical for him.

“Nines, what’s wrong?”

Nines sighed. “You need to put more thought into this. I’m not a human.”

“Yeah, and the sky is blue. No shit you’re not. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything!”

“Didn’t think you had a problem with android/human relationships.”

“I don’t. But …”

“But I should? Is that it?”

“I can’t be everything to you that a human can. I don’t have the necessary programming to do everything required for human relationships.”

“That’s it? Nines, I don’t give a shit about that.”

“But-” Nines started.

“But nothing. I don’t need to get laid in order to be happy with you. Hell, even if you did have the programming for that kind of shit, I still probably wouldn’t be that interested in it. I don’t need it and I don’t have great associations with it.”

Nines sighed heavily. “You weren’t supposed to say that. Do you have any idea how many test simulations I have run in my head for this? And that was the one response that I wasn’t prepared for.”

Gavin laughed and grabbed Nines’ hand. The synthskin pulled back on his hand and revealed the white chassis underneath.

“Look, Nines, I just want you. I will take whatever you are willing to give me, okay? Fuck all that other shit.”

“You’re insufferable,” Nines replied but he was smiling.

“You love it,” Gavin said as he closed the distance between their lips.

Gavin had often wondered what kissing Nines would be like. If it would be just like kissing another human or if it would taste like plastic. It was a mix between the two. There was the faint taste and feel of plastic and chemicals but there was also an unmistakable aliveness to Nines. Gavin moved his free hand to run through Nines’ hair, pulling the android’s face closer to his own. Nines wrapped his arm around his waist, pulling him even closer. Gavin didn’t even register his need to break away for air at first. Nines was his new oxygen, he didn’t need anything else. He doubted he’d need anything else ever again.

Finally, he did break away to gasp for air. He didn’t pull away though, merely pressed his forehead against Nines’.

“Cyberlife really went all out with your programming, huh?” he gasped, head still swimming with thoughts of Nines.

“I told you I was the most advanced android ever made, Gavin,” Nines softly replied, laughing a little.

Gavin’s heart leaped to his throat at the sound of Nines’ laughter. 

“Fuck, I love you,” he whispered without thinking.

Nines smiled and then leaned in for a soft chaste kiss on the lips.

“I love you too.”

Gavin’s face hurt from all the smiling as he grabbed Nines’ face and brought it closer to him. Ready to make up for all the time they had wasted.

**Author's Note:**

> The "I Had a Case of the Mondays" bit from MBMBAM is Nines and Connor discussing Connor's fashion choices post-deviancy.
> 
> And yes, I did write another fic in which I sat Gavin and Nines down to watch Repo! and then a film I had to watch in my 11th-grade Film Theory class. I had a six-month period of my life where I was a film snob because of that class lol. And if you think watching the "Take Off With Us" scene from All That Jazz is awkward to do with your crush? Imagine you're 17 in a crowded classroom with 30 of your peers that you've known since freshman year, and your middle-aged teacher sitting ten feet away from you. And now imagine that your teacher then replays the scene to give an explanation about how to talk about erotic matter in an academic way.
> 
> Yell at me on Tumblr @chaotic-bi-incarnate!!! Comments and kudos are always appreciated!!!
> 
> Stay hydrated lovelies!!!


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